Medieval Path of Night
[[]]
Latin Name: Via Noctis.
Description: Legend among the Lasombra has it that the Road of Night was once a path of the Road of Heaven, but it has taken many twists and turns since then. The Road of Night cares nothing for the salvation of the vampiric soul, nor for the behavior of vampires in general. It cares only for humanity.
Where the Baali see themselves as the corrupters of human souls on behalf of dark powers, those who follow the Path of Night see themselves as man's redeemers. Redemption is never easy, however. True sinners cannot be told to repent, or gently convinced, or talked into repenting, or nudged or tricked into it. Only pain and suffering can bring about true repentance, and thus, true salvation.
Vampires are damned and there is nothing they can do about it. Adherents of the Road of Night see purpose in that damnation. They believe that Cainites exist to serve as the scourges of mortal sinners; they give mortals a chance to redeem themselves by punishing them before their deaths. Followers of this road do terrible, twisted things, but always in the service of this goal. On those occasions when a follower of this road judges a sinner irredeemable, he may decide to Embrace her so that she can aid in his work. Some refer to the mortals they punish as their students, flock, or parish.
Many adherents of this road take their work a little further. They extract confessions from their victims, by force if necessary, and prescribe penance. Some seek to further advise those who have repented, believing that repentance is not enough -- without a further push onto the right path, the mortal will simply fall into old ways of sinning. A very few kill mortals who have repented, believing it best to send their subject's souls to Heaven before they have the chance to fall from grace again.
The behavior of Cainites only matters to these vampires when those Cainites debase mortals. Adherents of this road kill the Followers of Set whenever they can; they have no tolerance for those who tempt mortals in pursuit of worldly gain. The Baali are a slightly different problem. The Baali corrupt mortals not to their own ends, but in service of their dark masters. Followers of the Road of Night prefer to work directly against those dark powers rather than their pathetic servants.
The Black Angels, the angellis ater, adopted the new road wholeheartedly and have become its most vocal supporters. Some of the more religious followers of this road worry that the Black Angels revel too much in their state of damnation, and that they might eventually pervert the road's purpose. The Angels organize themselves in covens of five to thirteen members, and have begun to create their own rituals for the road that involved blood sacrifices, baths of blood, and other foul practices. Many followers of the Road of Heaven decry the Angels as heretics and blasphemers. The Angels believe that the shadows brought forth by Obtenebration are black shades from Hell.
Sobriquet: Redeemers, Confessors.
- Ethics of the Medieval Night
- - All Cainites are damned.
- - Our damnation is the price we pay for other's salvation.
- - Only pain and suffering bring about true repentance.
- - Without repentance there can be no redemption.
- - Do not suffer the corruption of mortals -- stamp the corruption out at its source.
Initiation: Many followers of this road are chosen by their sires even before they are embraced, from among those sinners believed to be irredeemable. Initiates are expected to help mortals only under the guidance of their mentors until they have become true adherents of the road. They are also expected to prove their self-sufficiency, judgement, and ability in a series of tests devised by their mentors as they are instructed in the road's tenets. When these tasks are deemed satisfactorily completed and the childe has undergone her first moment of truth, she may be initiated in a ceremony much like a perverted version of a baptism.
Organization: Teachers on the Road of Night usually led mortal lives as priests or other religious figures, and they maintained an air of spiritual authority even in their unlives. They believe that they are damned, however, and revel in this state, so their religious ceremonies and sermons have a fierce, hectic and often dangerous edge. Paragons are called Fallen Angels, and initiates are acolytes. Many adherents of the this road refer to each other as brother and sister. The road is hierarchical, with those below expected to bow to those above, often calling them "Father" and "Mother."
Aura: Guilt and remorse. Adherents of the Road of Night give off a faint air of the very emotions they evoke in the mortals they punish. The aura modifier applies to any attempt to elicit dirty secrets from others, or to inspire remorse in a sinner.
Virtues: Conviction & Self-Control
Hierarchy of Sins against the Medieval Night
10 - Spending much time on the affairs of Cainites. (Do not allow yourself to be distracted from your work.)
9 - Feeling remorse for your actions. (You are damned. Only mortals benefit from repentance.)
8 - Killing any mortal without taking confession first. (No mortal should be sent to his death without the chance to unburden his soul.)
7 - Attempting to "save" a Cainite. (Vampires are entirely damned -- do not waste your time on them.)
6 - Accepting the superiority of a Cainite other than those on the Road of Night or other members of your clan. (All vampires are equal under God.)
5 - Killing a sinner for any reason other than self-defense. (Dead sinners cannot repent.)
4 - Trying to save a sinner by means that do not involve pain and suffering. (Only pain and suffering can expiate sins and bring about true remorse.)
3 - Allowing the corruption of mortals. (Hell must have no dominion over the mortal soul.)
2 - Embracing a sinner who is still capable of remorse and redemption. (Only the irredeemable may be Embraced -- all others should have a chance at salvation.)
1 - Causing or bringing about the corruption of a mortal. (You are here to save souls, not damn them.)
Paths: Quite a few variations exist on the theme of this road, but most are small and have only a few followers. One of the most notorious, though also one of the smallest, is the Path of Heavenly Abode. The followers of this path believe that in order to truly save a soul, the mortal body must be destroyed as soon as the soul has found redemption, in order to prevent further sinning.
Role-playing Tips: God has damned you, but He has not abandoned you. Rather, He has given you a greater role to play in the war between Heaven and Hell. You relish that role, delighting in your ability to frighten mortals into repenting. You show them what true damnation is, forcing confession from them and turning them back toward redemption. Without you, sin would soon swallow the world.
